Battle of Cherbourg

The Battle of Cherbourg occurred from 6 to 30 June 1944 when the United States launched an airborne and ground assault on the port city of Cherbourg in France's Cotentin Peninsula. The US 101st Airborne Division and the US 82nd Airborne Division landed at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula and helped in the capture of Carentan, allowing for US Army troops to join the airborne troops in assaulting Cherbourg. The Germans were forced to focus on Caen, preventing German armored forces from being dispatched to Cherbourg, and the German flooding of the Douve River to prevent an Allied infantry advance was self-detrimental, as it secured the Allied southern flank. The German pillboxes and bunkers were shelled by Allied naval guns, and the American infantry faced heavy opposition from the Wehrmacht forces in their path. On 22 June 1944, the general assault was launched, and the Americans liberated Cherbourg on 30 June, with the mayor and several gleeful French civilians thanking General Joseph Lawton Collins for taking Cherbourg from the Axis Powers.